The Transculturality of Cancel Culture: Mediatization, Globalization, and Culture Wars

Abstract

The article presents a genealogy of cancel culture in the context of the mediatization and globalization of the communication. It traces a historical trajectory of cancel culture as a transcultural phenomenon whose deepest roots originate from a celebrity culture that dates back to the 18^th and 19^th century. It then analyzes the practice of cancelling, which has recently known an extraordinary expansion with the development of digital technologies and the datafication of communication. In this more recent wave of mediatization, in which algorithms facilitate user engagement and the polarization of conflicts, cancel culture has become a field of negotiation of opposing visions of community. The article interrogates the cultural ideologies which sustain these conflicts and warns against the dangers of silencing dissent in a climate of culture wars.